1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a process and a device for testing electronic equipments, more especially intended to be used in the field of avionics for testing the modules of an aircraft, these modules being driven by at least one computer.
2. Discussion of the Background
in the production phase, the electronic equipments of aircraft must successfully pass, contractually, acceptance tests before they can be placed on the market. These tests are known by the initials ATP standing for xe2x80x9cAcceptance Test Procedurexe2x80x9d.
In the exploitation phase, the electronic equipments must also undergo tests, when a defect is detected, so as to identify the fault and locate the component or components responsible. These electronic equipments having a relatively long lifetime, of the order of twenty years, they are also required to pass validation tests so as to verify that they still meet the regulations in force. These regulations change as a function of technological advances.
In the design phase, the constructor is required to perform tests so as to verify that the equipment under construction does indeed possess the expected functionalities and that the electronic equipment interacting with others meets the specifications properly.
In the design and production phase the tests take place at the constructor""s premises and in the exploitation phase they may take place at the constructor""s premises if the electronic equipment is removed from the aircraft and returned or in approved test stations possessed by the main airline companies.
These various tests are steps which are absolutely necessary in a field where a very high level of safety is required.
In the course of its life, an electronic equipment will undergo several tests with the aid of different test devices, according to which phase it is in, without there being any link between the various test devices and between the results of past tests and of the test in progress.
Likewise, a particular test device will be used to independently test several similar equipments which are in the same phase of their existence. For each equipment, the results of the test are saved, but there is no interactivity between the results of the tests undergone by several similar electronic equipments.
A conventional test device includes an interpreter linked to a test bed itself linked to the electronic equipment. The test device receives, in machine language, a list of commands or test specifications. The test device, on the basis of these commands, drives the test bed which applies stimuli to the electronic components of the equipment and performs measurements. An operator checks whether these measurements correspond to the anticipated result. Multimeter oscilloscopes or other measuring apparatuses are available to the operator.
In the event of a defect, several series of complementary tests are available to attempt to detect the origin of the defect.
The list of machine language commands is compiled by a coder operator on the basis of a list of commands in a more elaborate language familiar to the technician requesting the test. The technicians have their own discipline-specific languages.
The risks of introducing errors, especially of syntax, into the test programs while they are being written in elaborate language and/or while they are being coded are not negligible and the time for setting up a test is often very long by virtue of the numerous corrections, flaws being detected only when the whole test has been run.
In the field of avionics, the activity of testing is an activity which is absolutely necessary but it is very expensive since several types of test devices coexist, since human intervention is an important factor, and since in the event of a defect, numerous investigations are generally undertaken before the cause thereof can be detected.
The present invention aims to reduce the costs of the testing activity by proposing a single test device which is capable of carrying out the tests of an electronic equipment throughout its existence. This test device is easy to use since the operator performing the test can talk to it in his own language. Transcoding is eliminated and set-up time reduced since the test can be executed command by command.
More precisely the present invention proposes a process for testing an electronic equipment linked to a computer coupled to a data entry and display console with a screen effecting an interface with an operator. A test comprises a list of commands to be executed. It consists in displaying a test chart on the screen, made up of groups of cells, a group being associated with a command. For at least one command, the associated group of cells includes a cell which is to be supplied with a label of the command, a cell which is to be supplied with an expected result of the command, a cell which is reserved for an actual result of the command, a cell which is reserved for the result of a comparison between the actual result and the expected result.
It thereafter consists in displaying, after the execution of the command, the actual result and the result of the comparison.
To simplify input, each label can be associated with a command type and the group of cells can include a cell to be supplied with the command type, the supplying of this cell causing the associated label to appear in the cell of the group to be supplied with the label.
To save time and make input more reliable, selecting a cell to be supplied with the command type can afford access to a dictionary containing a list of command types and for each type the associated label.
A label includes at least one argument and an argument is either of parameter type, independent of the equipment to be tested, or of variable type, dependent on the equipment to be tested.
To further facilitate input, in the event of selecting a cell to be supplied with a label, having an argument of variable type, the process can authorize access to a database associating the variable with the different values which it can take.
To allow an operator regardless of his speciality to carry out the test, the values of a variable are expressed differently according to an identifier chosen by an operator, this identifier depending on the speciality of the operator.
To facilitate the identification of syntax errors and of defective commands, the group of cells furthermore includes a cell to be supplied with a step of the command.
It is beneficial to be able to save the contents of the cells of a group after the execution of a command. Processing can be performed on the basis of the saves.
In the event of a difference between the actual result and the expected result of a command, it is advantageous to have available at least one complementary test contained in a library of complementary tests.
Access to a fault-locating database may be provided. This database groups together saves of commands relating to electronic equipments previously tested, at least one zone of which exhibited a defect, and establishes a link between the defective zone and at least one command for which a difference exists between the actual result and the expected result.
Certain electronic equipments require the intervention of the operator to carry out the test. The process then consists in displaying on the screen a representation of at least one part of the equipment to be tested and in signalling to the operator the intervention to be carried out by depicting it on the representation.
The present invention also relates to a device for testing an electronic equipment including a computer linked to the electronic equipment, coupled to a data entry and display console with a screen effecting an interface with an operator. The screen displays a test chart with, for at least one command, a group of cells which includes amongst them a cell to be supplied with a label of the command, a cell to be supplied with an expected result of-the command, a cell reserved for an actual result of the command, a cell reserved for the result of a comparison between the actual result and the expected result and means for displaying the actual result and the result of the comparison.